High density lipoprotein subclasses and activities of protein kinase C

AIM: To investigate the relationship between high density lipoprotein (HDL) subclasses and the binding activities of hepatic cell and extra-hepatic cell HDL receptor and intracellular protein kinase C (PKC). METHODS: Using purified pre-β1 HDL and apoE-deficent HDL3 to react with human smooth muscle cells (SMC) and HepG2 cells, then the activities of pre-β1HDL and apoE-deficent HDL3 binding to SMC and HepG2 cells, and the effects of this two HDL subclasses on PKC activities in SMC and HepG2 cells were observed . RESULTS: The results showed that the value of Kd of pre-β1HDL binding to SMC HDL receptor was not only significantly lower than that of apoE-deficient HDL3 (P<0.05), but significantly lower than pre-β1 HDL binding to HepG2 HDL receptor (P<0.05). Cell PKC system was all activated by binding of the two HDL subclasses with SMC HDL receptor, and the effect of pre-β1HDL appeared to be stronger than apoE-deficent HDL3. No change in HepG2 cell PKC activity by binding the two HDL subclasses with HepG2 HDL receptor was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the ability of pre-β1HDL to promote efflux of cholesterol from extra-hepatic cells is stronger than that of apoE-deficent HDL3, and it seems that plasma pre-β1 HDL mainly interacts with extra-hepatic cell HDL receptor, subsequently, activates PKC signal transduction system and promotes the intracellular cholesterol efflux from cells.